VIRGIL VAN DIJK has confessed Celtic’s under-scrutiny stars are playing for their futures.

And the Dutchman reckons he and his colleagues have the next six months to prove themselves worthy of a place in Neil Lennon’s new-look team.

The manager is set to oversee a major overhaul of his squad in the second half of this campaign as he seeks to build a side for an assault on next season’s Champions League.

The Parkhead manager has indicated he wants new faces in the January transfer window to bed them in before the summer Euro qualifiers.

With Joe Ledley and Georgios Samaras edging closer to the exit, there will be serious upheaval.

Van Dijk believes every player in the squad is being assessed by the manager and that every player is battling daily to convince Lennon. The player said: “We’re trying to prove ourselves to the manager but it has been like that from the beginning. There were five new players in the summer and I was one of them.

“At that stage, you know you’ll have to work hard to get into the team and everyone does that every day in training.

“In games, they then want to show that they are needed to start so it’s a good thing.”

Lennon has set his sights on rebuilding the squad after a frustrating Champions League group campaign ended with a 6-1 battering in Barcelona.

With players such as Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama gone from the team which made it to the last 16 a year ago, fellow old guard such as Samaras and Ledley are ready to follow suit.

As their contracts are due to expire at the end of the season, Celtic have offered the duo new three-year deals but no progress has made and Lennon is braced for their departures.